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The iconic maple tree is at risk in Ontario unless the province does more to protect the species from the twin threats of long-horned beetles and climate change, says Environmental Commissioner Gord Miller.

While the beetles have already been found in several areas of the GTA and quarantine zones have been set up for the destruction of any infested broad-leafed trees, beetles “loose and heading north” from New York state could start chewing through maples here within 10 years, Miller warned Tuesday.

Global warming could also make it too hot and dry for new maples to grow “in a few decades,’ Miller added.

Such a future would have repercussions for tourism, forestry and the $15 million annual maple syrup industry.

“Is that the Ontario we want to live in?” Miller said after delivering a special report critical of the provincial government for not having a strategy to protect biodiversity — everything from trees, to fish and wildlife.

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Bugs and disease have taken their toll on other tree species, showing the latest challenges are “real, practical problems” faced by the province, Miller added, noting black spruce also face a threat from climate change.

“We’re losing our ash trees like we lost our elm trees back in the ’60s,” said Miller, raising concerns that upcoming budget cuts to cope with the $16 billion deficit could further hamstring protection efforts.

Natural Resources Minister Michael Gravelle said Ontario is working closely with the federal government on invasive species like the beetle. He did not share Miller’s dim view of the future for maples.

“I don’t think that’s the case. I think that we can, hopefully, find our way through this,” Gravelle said, pointing to his government’s biodiversity efforts that include protecting a greenbelt around Toronto from development and a new law protecting endangered species.

Ontario adopted a biodiversity strategy in 2005 but it expired last year despite work by an advisory council to advance it, leaving the government “ill prepared” to deal with threats, Miller said.

That is a clear “warning shot across the bow,” said Progressive Conservative MPP Laurie Scott (Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock), her party’s natural resources critic.

“Protecting our resources, protecting our fisheries, protecting our forests, this is vital to keeping jobs, to paying the bills here in Ontario,” said New Democrat MPP Jonah Schein (Davenport). “We have no choice.”

Miller urged the government to keep biodiversity in mind — such as moves by the transportation ministry to build underpasses for rattlesnakes crossing Highway 69 in northern Ontario and fences to keep deer off roadways.

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